Hurricane Irma Pulls The Ocean Back From Beaches in the Bahamas and Tampa

By now, you have seen video after video of hurricane-powered destruction. At this point, we are all pseudo-experts when it comes to cyclonic mega-storms of the Northern Atlantic variety (or we pretend to be on Facebook). Most everyone has seen the well documented damage caused by massive amounts of rainfall, wind, storm surges, and flooding. Video after video has shown the destructive power of water wielded by an angry mother nature, and we have watched it in awe.

One video that you may have missed shows an often missed side of a hurricane's strength. Twitter user piz posted a video from the Bahamas that has me astounded. Think about the much talked about "Storm Surge" often associated with a hurricane. This phenomenon occurs when constant winds drive ocean water well above sea level, creating a constant flow of water inland. It would be easy to think that the ocean is so big, displacing this much water would be hardly noticeable on another shore - but that's not correct.

This video from the Bahamas, shows the water missing from the beach. Hurricane Irma is so powerful, it is dragging a huge chunk of the ocean with it. So much so that this beach stayed this dry for almost a day.

That's not the only place noticeably less wet due to Irma's insane thirst. Check out this video from Tampa Bay shot by Dutch tourist Sam.

Experts say that this is a rare, but not unprecedented phenomenon. In each case, the ocean waters returned.